Magneto
For other uses of Magneto, see Magneto (disambiguation) Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr) is a mutant, leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He has the ability to manipulate magnetic force fields and magnetic flight. Magneto is one of the most infamous mutants, having a stand against humans due to him being apart of the Holocaust and how humans are known to hate and fear mutants. Similarly to Professor Xavier, Magneto has a strong belief and formed a team of his own, the Brotherhood of Mutants, after he was a founding member of the X-Men with Professor X, having being good friends. Unlike Professor X, Magneto's team's belief isn't to equally live with humans, but to rise above them. Biography ''X-Men: First Class In 1944, Erik Lehnsherr is forcibly separated from his parents by Nazi soldiers in German-occupied Poland, specifically at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Under this stress, Lehnsherr's powers began to manifest and in his panic, twisted open the metal fence separating him from his parents before being knocked unconscious. While at Auschwitz, he first encounters a Nazi collaborator named Sebastian Shaw (under the alias Dr. Klaus Schmidt). Shaw murders Erik's mother and tortures him in an attempt to draw out his mutant powers through his anger. Following the end of World War II in 1945, 17 years later, Erik spends the rest of his life trying to find Shaw and exact vengeance, murdering other surviving Nazis connected to Shaw along the way. He eventually tracks him down to a small boat off the American coast. His attempt at revenge fails when he is defeated by Shaw's Hellfire Club cohorts, being no match for their mutant powers. It was at this point that he meets Charles Xavier, Raven Darkholme and Moira MacTaggert, who were present as part of a botched CIA attempt to capture Shaw. Together and with CIA support, Xavier and Lehnsherr gather a team of mutant teenagers to battle the Hellfire Club, who are attempting to ignite a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States as part of a plot to eradicate non-mutant life on the planet and rule over a mutant new world order. Xavier helps the teens master their powers at his mansion, including Erik. During this time, the two become close friends. However, Erik is still filled with hatred for Shaw and fears a mutant holocaust, despite Xavier's attempts to convince him to let go of his hatred. Erik also motivates Mystique to become proud of her natural appearance, believing her desire to get rid of it is wrong. During a CIA mission within the Soviet Union, Erik and Xavier capture the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, and extract information from her pertaining to Shaw's plans. Ultimately, the team decides to jump into action to prevent the Cuban Missile Crisis from causing World War III. The Hellfire Club attempts to stop the CIA-sanctioned mutant team, but is defeated. During the encounter, Erik confronts Shaw, who attempts to bring him to his side with promises of a new, mutant world order. Although he agrees with Shaw's goals, Erik refuses to forgive him for murdering his mother. Despite Xavier's pleads to be the better man, Erik kills Shaw by magnetically pushing a coin through his brain. When the United States and the Soviet Union strike up an impromtu alliance to destroy the mutants, Erik magnetically deflects the missiles back towards the fleets. Xavier tackles him and the two engage in a fist fight, which distracts Erik long enough to prevent the missiles from killing those at sea. During a subsequent attempt by Moria MacTaggert to shoot Erik, one of the bullets he deflects strikes Xavier in the lower back, permanently crippling him. Horrified at what had transpired, Erik bids farewell to his close friend, departing with Mystique and the remaining Hellfire Club members with the vow of destroying humankind in order to save mutants. He later frees the White Queen, declares himself "Magneto", and establishes his first Brotherhood of Mutants. Between ''X-Men: First Class & X-Men: Days of Future Past In 1963, Magneto was accused of killing John F. Kennedy and was imprisoned. On Friday, February 4, 1964, a trial was held against Lehnsherr where President Johnson noted in a closed-door meeting with the Warren Commission that their prime suspect - Lehnsherr - was in custody. His private trial began the next week. Recently declassified court records indicate that Lehnsherr could not refute being at Dealy Plaza's grassy knoll but he insisted that he did not assassinate the President. As the court ordered him to prove his mutant abilities, Lehnsherr bent a metal crow bar. It took the court five minutes to settle down. Lehnsherr told the court that he did know who killed the President and that he knows who she is and she is hiding in plain sight. The court found Lehnsherr guilty of first-degree murder and conspiring to assassinate Kennedy. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in a federal correctional facility with no possibility of parole. Throughout the 60's Lehnsherr had destroyed three holding cells until 1971 when Trask Industries built an escape proof cell that kept him imprisoned. ''X-Men: Days of Future Past In 1973, while Erik was resting, he received a visit from Quicksilver, who gave him a subtle warning to "mind the glass". Confused, Erik watched as Quicksilver shattered the glass with his palms, showering him with shards. Quicksilver then sped Erik past the guards and into the elevator, an act which gave Erik slight nausea. While they conversed, Quicksilver mentioned that his mother once knew someone who could control metal. Erik was surprised to learn that Charles had come to free him, but he soon received a punch in the jaw. Erik bore it and did not react. When they were ambushed by guards, Erik nearly used his powers to kill them, but Quicksilver dispatched the guards without any casualties. Once they safely left the Pentagon, the group boarded a plane. During the flight, Erik and Charles argued over how they abandoned each other after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Charles blamed Erik for taking Raven away. However, Erik blamed Charles for the deaths of Azazel, Angel, Emma Frost and Banshee. During this row, Erik's anger nearly brought down the plane. Erik also speaks to Wolverine, who informs him that they are enemies in the future, but Wolverine notes that he and Erik are somewhat similar; they are survivors. Erik soon learned of the apocalyptic future that would befall them if Mystique kills Trask. Erik and Charles later sort out their differences over chess. When they arrived in France, Erik, Charles, Beast and Wolverine successfully interrupted Mystique's assassination of Trask. Despite this, Erik felt that it was only necessary to permanently secure their future by killing Mystique. With Charles unable to stop him, Mystique attempted to flee through a window. Erik magnetically fired a gun and directed the bullet into Mystique's leg as she jumped. Erik chased her out of the window and advanced on Mystique once more, dragging her back to him. Mystique begged for mercy, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Erik ended up in a fight with Beast before he could kill her, causing cars and fences to react violently in the surge of power from Erik. The two landed in a nearby fountain, where Beast attempted to drown Erik, but Erik ultimately restrained Beast in the fountain's metal sculpture. Mystique got away and so did Erik. The entire scene horrified the public as well as President Nixon, therefore failing to change the future in the process. While passing through a subway, a disguised Mystique grabbed him and pulled him off to one side with a plastic dagger at his throat. Mystique interrogated Erik about why he tried to kill her. Erik replied that he was attempting to safeguard their future, as he knows she still wants to kill Trask. She doesn't believe him at first, but Erik reminds her that he has never lied to her and will never lie to her, and she relents. However, she is bitter to learn that killing one man was never enough for Erik, and blames him for the fact that Trask has obtained her blood. Erik tries to warn her about the future but she doesn't listen and disappears again. Erik later stowaways on a train that was transporting Sentinels to Washington. Erik used his powers on the tracks to rip them free, and manages to place metal inside the Sentinels, allowing him to control them. In Washington, he successfully infiltrates the Pentagon and retrieves his helmet. On the day the Sentinels are unveiled, Erik goes to the RFK stadium and uses his power to lift the entire stadium into the air. At the same time, Erik takes control of the Sentinels and commands them to attack the crowd, forcing the President and his retinue to take cover. In the ensuing chaos, Erik arrives and places the stadium around the White house, with the falling rubble injuring Charles. He then places all but one Sentinel on top of the stadium. While the remaining Sentinel attacks Beast, Wolverine tries to fight Magneto. But Erik simply flings debris at Wolverine, eventually impaling Logan's body with several pieces of metal. Erik gives a short taunt before hurling him into the sky. Logan later falls into the Potomac River and subsequently drowns. Then, Erik rips the President’s shelter out of the White House and broadcasts a speech to everyone around the world. The President comes forward and demands that Erik kills him and spares everyone else. However, Erik replies that the President did not spare the rest of his kind (mutants) and prepares to kill them all. But the President is none other than Mystique, who shoots him through the neck and wounds him. Shortly after this, Mystique knocks him unconscious. Mystique prepares to shoot Trask once and for all, but after some persuasion from Charles, she relents. This act abruptly erases the apocalyptic future. After Mystique departs, so does Erik, with a brief farewell to Charles. X-Men: The Last Stand Prologue'' 10 Years Later Magneto and Professor X arrive at the Greys' home, on 1769 in an unknown street where they meet a young Jean Grey. The powers of the little girl are beyond imagination, and, while Lensherr wants to use them, Xavier fears them and decides to create mental blocks to restrain them. During her sessions with Professor X, Jean developed a dual personality - one being her usual self who can control her power and the other being her powerful and uninhibited side which called itself in Jean's sessions with the Professor the Phoenix which emerges when she loses control of her powers. ''X-Men 24 Years later, Magneto and Mystique are in charge of the Brotherhood of Mutants and, using a high-tech machine, attempt to mutate the world's leaders, unaware that it would cause humans to lose their molecular structure (as seen in Senator Kelly). Magneto sends Mystique to lure Rogue into capture in order to use her for his machine. Mystique shape-shifts in Iceman and convinces her to leave. Rogue does so, which eventually leads to her capture by the Brotherhood. When warned of the dangers of the machine by Jean Grey and Storm, Magneto refuses to believe them and proceeds to use the machine. However, it is destroyed by Wolverine and Cyclops before it could affect the humans on Ellis Island. Following this, Magneto is captured by the government and is locked up in a plastic prison. X2: X-Men United A Year Passed, Magneto is kept in his plastic prison with his own security guard, Mitchell Laurio. Colonel William Stryker, while on a visit, brainwashes Magneto, forcing him to divulge information about Cerebro and the X-Mansion. Xavier pays him a visit with regards to the attack on the President, but Magneto has no answer for him. The two are incapacitated by gas, and Charles is taken by Stryker. Later on, Magneto is able to escape from prison using iron particles extracted from Laurio's bloodstream, which were previously injected by Mystique. He proceeds to kill the other guards before finally escaping. After saving the X-Men from crashing the X-Jet, he and Mystique form a temporary alliance with them in order to stop Stryker from killing all of the world's mutants, with Stryker using his own version of Cerebro at Alkali Lake to accomplish the task. It is here that Magneto encounters Pyro and intrigues the boy with his advice. In order to use his version of Cerebro, Stryker uses his son Mastermind to manipulate Xavier (now Stryker's hostage) to kill all of the world's mutants. Magneto stops this, but instead has Xavier, through Mastermind, trying to kill all of the humans. Magneto comes across Stryker while the latter is suffering from Xavier's mental attack. Magneto binds Stryker to a rock, where he is presumably killed by the flood from the dam. He then leaves Alkali Lake in a helicopter, shortly after Pyro joins him. The X-Men intervene in time and prevent Magneto's re-programming from being fully carried out. X-Men: The Last Stand In 2006, after leaving Alkali Lake, Magneto attempts to expand the Brotherhood of Mutants in order to combat the new mutant "cure" produced by Worthington Labs. He attends a mutant meeting with Pyro, convincing many of the mutants present to join him. One mutant named Callisto is skeptical of him, but Magneto is impressed by her talent, and he asks to her to locate Mystique. Magneto subsequently intercepts the convoy and makes short work of the armored vehicles. He frees Mystique and learns from her that the source of the cure is a mutant. Magneto frees other imprisoned mutants, including Juggernaut. Mystique then protects Magneto from a dart containing the cure. A dismayed Magneto finds that Mystique has been stripped of her powers, and he sadly leaves her, saying "You're not one of us anymore". Callisto later informs Magneto of a powerful source of energy coming from a mutant. He immediately deduces it to be Jean Grey, and they set off to find her. At Jean's house, he encounters Professor X, and the two vie for Jean's loyalty. The unstable Phoenix seems to agree with Magneto's claims about Charles wanting to control her, and she lashes out with her powers. Magneto watches helplessly as Charles is lifted out of his chair and vaporized. Magneto slowly approaches Jean and convinces her to come with him. When Xavier dies at the hands of Phoenix, he shows genuine grief over his death, even severely reprimanding Pyro when the latter states that he would have killed Xavier himself had Magneto asked it of him. In the forest, he muses on Jean's potential, although she nearly "cures" him when she aims darts at him. Magneto reprimands her, and Jean demands to know why he wants he. Magneto replies that he wants her to be free, and that they must fight for freedom. Despite this, even Callisto warns him that Jean's powers are completely unstable. While making a speech to his brethren of mutants, Wolverine infiltrates his base ans attempts to talk to Jean. Magneto restrains him, and despite Wolverine's warnings about Jean, Magneto replies that he saw what happened to Charles. Wolverine demands Jean back, but Magneto sends him flying through the forest, and he is knocked unconscious when he hits a tree. After learning that the cure is now being utilized as an offensive weapon, he and the Brotherhood decide to attack the Worthington facility on Alcatraz Island, where the cure is being manufactured using DNA from a young mutant known as Leech. Magneto's objective is to kill Leech so that the cure will not be reproduced. Magneto and his army attack the Golden Gate Bridge, where he uses his powers to rip the entire bridge free and transport it over to the island. This allows Magneto and his army to reach the lab. The X-Men, working with the armed forces stationed on Alcatraz, defend the facility from the Brotherhood. During the battle, Wolverine and Beast work together and inject Magneto with the "cure", stripping him of his powers. He then withdraws from Alcatraz with the other mutants and humans when Phoenix goes on a rampage, unleashing her powers. Some time after the attack, Magneto, now remorse and deprived of his immense powers, is seen sitting in a San Francisco park, in front of a metal chess game. He extends his hand toward a metal chess piece and was able to move it a tiny bit, suggesting that the cure may not be permanent and/or may not have rendered him completely powerless. The Wolverine Magneto confronts Logan at an airport and has fully regained his mutant powers. He restrains Logan and solicits his help against dark forces seeking to destroy mutant-kind. When Logan asks Magneto why he should trust him, Charles Xavier arrives to assure him. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Original Timeline) Magneto fights alongside Charles Xavier and the rest of the mutants in the dystopian future. When the decision is made to send Logan back in time, Magneto states that Wolverine must find his (Erik's) younger self too, much to Logan's dismay. Magneto does not reveal explicitly where he is being held in the past. When Wolverine goes back in time with the help of Shadowcat, he helps free a young Erik from a zero-metal facility underneath the Pentagon alongside his possible son, Quicksilver. It is stated that Erik attempted to save John F. Kennedy from the bullet by curving it but he was stopped before he could reroute it because he was "one of them". Wolverine and young Magneto acknowledge that they are future enmeies, but despite this Wolverine notes that they are somewhat similar, saying "You're a survivor". A younger Magneto attempts to kill Mystique due to her actions ultimately creating the apocalyptic future in which the older versions of Magneto and Charles live. He is, however, thwarted in his attempt. During this incident, Wolverine's encounter with William Stryker causes his future body to violently lashes out, injuring Shadowcat, and older Magneto is forced to hold him down with his powers to prevent further injury to her. Much later in future, an older Magneto moves to defend their hideout from the approaching Sentinels. Magneto lifts the X-Jet and propels it towards the Sentinel carriers, using his powers to activate a power core within the jet. Storm then shoots the jet with lightning. The resulting explosion destroys most of the attacking Sentinels, but it sends out debris in all directions. While Magneto is able to halt all the metal in mid-air, he is punctured by a stray piece of Sentinel. The surviving Sentinels then attack the group, and Magneto barricades the entrance with metal. Through Blink's power, Magneto retreats into the sanctuary and somewhat apologizes to Charles for all the useless years they spent fighting. ''X-Men: Days of Future Past ''(Revised Timeline) Due to Mystique not shooting Bolivar Trask, the future ultimately perishes and Magneto should still be the villain we've seen in the original trilogy, having never reconciled with Charles. Powers, Abilities, & Weaknesses Powers *'Magnetokinesis''' - Magneto has comprehensive control over all forms of magnetism. **'Ferrokinesis '- He utilizes the control of the magnetism to manipulate ferrous metals and achieve a variety of effects. In X2 and Days of future past, he lifts the X-Jet with ease. During the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Magneto was able to lift the entire Golden Gate Bridge. In X-Men Days of Future Past he was able to lift the RFK stadium. His control is not only immense in lifting these enormous structures, but also precise in keeping the bridge and stadium intact while airborne. Apart from being able move metal towards him, Magneto can also pull himself towards metal, as seen when he boarded a moving train. ** Metal Sense - 'He is able to sense the presence of metals. **'Organic Iron Manipulation - He is able to manipulate the metal within a person's blood. **'Magnetic Flight' - Magneto can fly by gliding on the Earth's EM field. Abilities *'Excellent Strategist' - Magneto is an excellent strategist, tactician, and skilled leader. * High Intellect *'Multilingual' - As shown in X-Men: First Class, Magneto is fluent in several languages - including English, French, German, and Spanish. *'Indomitable Will' - Magneto will strive to complete his tasks, no matter what it takes. Weaknesses *'Physical Condition' - Magneto's ability to wield his superhuman powers effectively is dependent upon his physical condition. When severely injured, his body is unable to withstand the strain of manipulating magnetic energy. When his powers are not at their peak, he also appears to have greater difficulty utilizing his magnetism for great feats. He is also susceptible to physical and mental fatigue that can ultimately affect his ability to adequately use his powers, especially if he overuses or extends them in a short amount of time. This is most apparent in X-Men. *'Arrogance' - Magneto has displayed a degree of arrogance that has caused him to underestimate the circumstances and individuals in various situations. In X-Men, when Jean Grey and Storm attempted to warn him about the hazards posed by his conversion machine, he refused to believe them, still holding to the notion that his machine will covert the humans rather than kill them. Another notable example was in X-Men: The Last Stand, when Professor X and Callisto warned him on separate occasions that Phoenix's power was too unstable to control. Again, he disregarded their opinions, believing that he could '' control her. Relationships Friends and Family *Jakob Lehnsherr - Father *Edie Lehnsherr - Mother *Polaris - Daughter *Professor X - Old Friend and Archenemy turned Ally *Pyro - Teammate *Sabretooth - Teammate *Toad - Teammate *Juggernaut - Teammate *Multiple Man - Teammate *Emma Frost - Enemy turned Teammate *Azazel - Enemy turned Teammate *Riptide - Enemy turned Teammate *Angel Salvadore - Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Morlocks/Omega - Allies **Callisto **Arclight **Quill **Psylocke **Spike **Phat **Glob Herman **Ash **Vanisher Enemies *William Stryker - Enemy *Wolverine - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Storm - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Jean Grey - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Cyclops - Enemy *Rogue - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Iceman - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Colossus - Enemy turned Ally turned Enemy turned Ally *Shadowcat - Enemy turned Ally *Nightcrawler - Enemy *Sebastian Shaw - Enemy *Darwin - Former Teammate *Moira MacTaggert - Teammate turned Enemy *Beast - Teammate turned Enemy turned Ally *Banshee - Teammate turned Enemy *Bolivar Trask - Enemy *'Humans''' - Enemies Mystique - former teammate former lover turned enemy Trivia *In the Marvel comics continuity, Magneto's birth name is Max Eisenhardt. At the time first movie was being developed, the Erik Lehnsherr name was being used to give the character a Gypsy heritage, to avoid "demonizing" Jewish holocaust survivor community. Marvel editors later changed their minds and claimed the character used the name merely as a cover identity. The name has yet to appear in an X-Men film. *The number tattooed on Magneto's arm from the Nazi concentration camp is 214782. The tattoo was originally seen in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #150, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Dave Cockrum in 1981. After the release of the Bryan Singer films, which put greater emphasis on Magneto's heritage and motivation stemming his experiences at the camps, Claremont decided to retcon the number in 2004. It was changed to 24005, a more historically accurate number that would have been used on the first group of Jews to be tattooed at Auschwitz. 24005 made its debut in ''Excalibur'' #2. Interestingly, other new elements from comics introduced after the Singer films, such has Wolverine's fully revealed origin and the character of Azazel, were introduced into the movies almost immediately. *In the comics, Xavier and Magneto chose different paths after a fight with Wolfgang Von Strucker, in which Xavier prevents Magneto from killing Strucker. In the movie, Strucker is replaced by Sebastian Shaw as Wolfgang Von Strucker's film rights belong to Marvel Studios. *The scene in X-Men: The Last Stand in which Magneto lifts the Goldengate Bridge and uses it as a vessel for his Brotherhood is taken directly from the comics. *Magneto was supposed to have a beard in X-Men: The Last Stand but this idea was quickly dismissed. However, on the DVD, there is a deleted scenes where Pyro tells Magneto about the cure announcement. There are two versions of this scene. One is the "bearded" version and one is the shaven version. 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